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模块一 课后习题
第1部分 早期美国文学：殖民时期至1815年
第1章 “新世界”的文学
Questions for Discussion and Writing Assignments
1. Give a brief account of Christopher Columbus, AmerigoVespucci and Martin Waldseemuler so that you can establish one version of the“origin” of America.
Key: Christopher Columbus was oftenregarded as the founder of “America”, but it was very controversial becausethat Columbus who “discovered” America in fact thought that he had reached Asia. He wasso convinced that he had reached the land of the great Khan that in his fourvoyages between 1492 and 1502, he interpreted everything he saw according tohis pre-established view of what Asia or Asians should look like.
“America” was named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant, explorer andcartographer, who sailed to Brazil in 1501 under thePortuguese flag and he noted: “we arrived at a new land which … we observed tobe a continent.” In 1503 his book Mundus Novus (The New World) was printed and was more widely circulated thananything written by Columbus. Many people think that he was the very persondiscovered “America”.
Martin Waldseemuller was a Germangeographer. He found Vespucci’s work when he was preparing a new edition of theworld’s map. It was Waldseemuler who decided that the new land should be namedafter its finder: Amerigo. On his 1507 world map, this German geographer markedthe new territory—what he called the “fourth part” of the world followingEurope, Africa, and Asia—as “America”.Vespucci as an explorer is also controversial in that he fabricated the talethat he had made a 1497 voyage during which he found the Southern Americancontinent. It is quite possible that he made up the story to beat Columbus asthe first discoverer.
At any rate, it wasVespucci’s writings and Waldseemuller’s map that made Europeans aware of the “fourth part” of the world. The Europeans then understoodthat Columbus’s description of the New World as a string of Asian islands wasquite misleading. At any rate, to the New World called “America” Europeansettlers came in incessant waves.
2. Give some specific examples forthe argument that the “origin” of America is multicultural.
Key: There were manyexplorers from different nations came here and exerted their influence on thenative people of the newland. For example, people came from England, brought with their culture, religions,traditions and so on.
3. From the first few pages of this book, do you acquire anew understanding of “discoveries” of America? If so, what is this newunderstanding?
Key: Yes, I acquire a newunderstanding of “discoveries” of America. Before I read the passage, I thoughtit was Columbus that discovered America, and there was nothing worthy ofdoubting about. But after I read it, I found that the fact was not like what Ithought. I get new knowledge about the discoveries of America which enriched mymind.
At the same time, Irealize that histories were past, and everyone has the rights to explain it,perhaps, as he wants to. So, if we want to know histories in the way as itreally was, we should read materials as much as possible.
4. What is the story of the word“Indian” as it is applied to the indigenous people in America?
Key: When Columbus set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, he was driven bythe desire to find a convenient sea passage to the Orient, or, morespecifically, a passage to the land of Kublai Khan as Marco Polo had describedit in his 13th century travelogues. When he arrived at America, he was soconvinced that he had reached the land of the great Khan that in his fourvoyages between 1492 and 1502, he interpreted everything he saw according tohis pre-established view of what Asia or Asians should look like. He thoughtthat he had reached Asia and the land under his feet was India. So, theindigenous people in America were wrongly called “Indian”.
5. What are the consequences of the Native Americans’“contact” with European settlers? Why do you think the word “contact” is usedby some historians?
Key: Native Americans weregreatly influenced and conquered by European settlers, because Europeans atthat time were verystrong and aggressive, especially England, Span, France and so on. In fact, fromColumbus’ friend’s informal account of their second voyage to America, we cansee how quickly the relationship between the Europeans and the nativesdeteriorated.
Historians use “contact”mainly because that Native Americans and Europeans could not communicate witheach other in an effective way. At that time, there were so many strikingdifferences between them, economically, religiously, culturally, and politically.
6. What are “origin stories?” Givetwo examples.
Key: Origin stories arethose dramatizing tribal interpretations of how the earth originated or of howpeople established relationships with plants, animals and the cosmos. “Earth-Diver”and “First Beginning” are two typical original stories.
7. Give examples to explain “trickster tales” and“historical narratives” in Native American literature. Compare the discussionof Native American literature in this chapter with that in Chapter 26. Discussthe continuity.
Key: Trickster tales are humoroustales featuring trickster characters. Trickster figures are people in the formof animals such as Coyote, Raven, Blue Jay, Mink, or Rabbit. One might also saythat they are half animal and half human. A good Chinese analogy for the“trickster” would be Sun Wukong the Monkey King.
Historicalnarratives are diverse in kinds. Some of them are tribal records of historicalevents. Many other narratives feature legendary figures that move inrecognizable historical settings. In such tales, the line between an actualevent and tribal belief is blurred. Of this vast historical literature, manystories recount European colonization from the perspective of Native Americans.For instance, to the Yuchis, a tribe in the Southeast, white people emergedfrom the sea foam of the Atlantic. The Yuchi tale “Creation of the Whites”reveals so much of the emotions associated with the first encounters betweenthe Europeans and the natives.
In the early time, most Native American stories were orally passed on, thesetales then have a performativedimension: they are not only “told,” they arealso “sung” as chants and songs, anddramatized in ritual dances. The main types of their stories were originstories, trickster tales and historical narratives. While in chapter 26, the NativeAmerican literature is in written form and those writers have their variousthemes and styles.
8. What is the Eurocentric thinking in the explorationwritings by Christopher Columbus and Captain John Smith? How is this thinkingspecifically is manifested?
Key: The Eurocentric thinking is that some people think that Europe is thecenter of the world and it holds the most important position in the world.
Many Europeans think thatthey are the center of the world, and their culture, values, religion, economy,political system and so on are the best of the whole world. They think thatpeople in other parts of the world should submit to them. So, not long afterthat time, some European countries began to establish colonies around theworld. Even now, there are till many people in Europe hold the same idea and tryto exert their cultures, values, religious beliefs and so on over people inother parts of the world, especially of some developing countries.
